Witchcraft Wednesday

We all woke up and went to our 9am class called Ghana Today. It was the most intersting class I have ever sat through in my life! We learned how a Ghanian views themselves as a part of society. So now for a little lesson lol! Ghanians believe that each person is made up of multiple selves, and that they are how society defines that they are. Akans are a predominate tribe in Ghana (they make up like 44% of the population) they beleive that there is a seperate soul/concience/double of the person inside everyone. This is called the okra (pronounced kra). There are no english words that can translate to exactly what the Okra is but our teacher told us that it is very important to the people and they look at it as like a guiding principle/ego sort of thing- unique to each person like a personality. There is also the ntoro. In Ghanian thought when conception occurs the woman gives blood and the man gives ntoro. Ntoro is like the family and ancestry of the male and the moral qualities of the individual. Blood is also an important factor, not just the chemical makeup but it has a much deeper meaning than that. Mogya is the blood and it has a metaphysical significance. It defines the identity of the person and ones social self (responsibilities as a member of a group). It carries the generational life of the family and links you to your ancestors. Nkrabea is the element in the human persona that links each person up to God. It is beleived that right before a person is born they stand before God and and God gives the person the ability to make moral chioces and sets out a roadmap of the persons life. Then the teacher took a little break as if preparing for the next part of the lecture. He got a very serious look on his face and said that he wanted to talk to us about witchcraft. In Ghanian society, witchcraft is beleived by all. He gave us his credentials and said that he has studied witchcraft and written books on the topic but there is still so much that is unknown because only the people who are witches know the whole sotry... and he is not a witch. The okra carries the nkrabea, and witches can attack a persons okra and confuse it and misguide it. Whatever happens to the okra happens to the person. Witchcraft is the source of all that is evil. Only a person in your own family that is a witch can do harm to you... so there is a lot of family tension about this subject. As small chidren Ghanians are taught that they are not to trust their family members and that they are not allowed to accept gifts from them or eat food from them because that is a way that witchcraft can be transferred. It can also be bought. Witches organize in groups and have chairpersons and secretaries in a very hierarchical matter. They always meet to feed themselves on the okras of humans. Witchcraft can be cast out of people by a medicine man (or witch doctor) and there is a village of witches in Ghana that people here shudder when they even think about. The teacher then went on to tell us a story about when he saw witchcraft one day when he was in class- a tree caught fire from the inside and everyone in the class knew that it was witchcraft. I know that the sentences dont flow together well but I was trying to copy it from the notes I took in class. It was so intersting to here this PhD scholar talk about his beliefs in witchcraft. I was absolutley blown away. He also talked about how when people are sucessful they must thank their okra or it will turn negative. So every time you pass a test or celebrate a birthday or get a good job- people cook you a dinner of eggs and yams and you are to eat it with your okra. Then you come out and join the rest of the party. So I thought I would share this with you guys I hope you find it as intersting as I do. After that class we all sat and played around online in the Aya center before our next class. Our next class was interesting but not as interesting as the first by far. We learned about major development theories and I chose a topic of one of my papers. I am going to write about how developing countries are actually stunted by the loans that developed countries give them. We have to do a 12 pg research paper for each class so I thought Id get a head start on at least one lol. Then a few of us went to the night market and I got all of the supplies to make no bake cookies :) Then it was my groups turn to cook. We made chicken and gravy over rice. Everyone said it was great so yay!! :) After that we all pretty much settled in and did some reading for class the next day before falling asleep.